


Memories in Stone

by Arsenica



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Cages, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 10:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenica/pseuds/Arsenica
Summary: It's been so long since Wendy fell prisoner to the demon king of Neverland. Hope of escape seems futile, and Wendy is sure she'll die forgotten and unmourned. Felix has other ideas.





	Memories in Stone

The first thing he noticed was the silence. Ordinarily Felix liked silence, craved it even on an island where the games and fighting and contests never stopped. Today, the silence did not feel right. He told himself at first that she must still be sleeping, and that was why no sweet voice rang out “Good morning, Felix” as he stepped into the clearing.

“Morning, Miss Darling,” he called up to the cages. No response. A bit more curious now, he untied the vine and slowly lowered her cage onto the ground. Not even a yelp of surprise. He undid the latch carefully, opening the door on a bedraggled girl in a dress that had once been white, curled up in the back corner as if she were sleeping.

“Breakfast time, ladybird,” Felix drawled. The slight twitch beneath her mass of curls told him she was only pretending to be asleep. That was unusual. “Gonna get cold if you stay back there pretending,” Felix mused. After another moment, the girl shifted. Slowly, Wendy Darling uncurled from her protective ball and crept delicately to the front of the cage.

“Thank you, Felix.” Her words were always somewhat stilted, with a wall of high manner between her and whoever it was she was speaking to. Today, however, her wall was even higher. Well trained as an observer, Felix noted how red and puffy her eyes were. She’d been crying.

“Pan at it again?” Felix asked. He tried his best to sound sympathetic, but he knew the effect wasn’t quite as he wished. Felix excelled at many things, but feelings were not one of them. “Eyes are looking a little red there, lady-bird.”

Wendy hastily dabbed at her eyes. “Must be the dust,” she lied politely. Prisoner or no, it wasn’t proper to let someone see her cry.

“Jungle’s pretty damp for dust,” Felix observed. “Why not let things off your chest? I won’t tell.” It surprised Felix to find he was telling the truth. He wouldn’t tell Pan about Wendy crying, even though he knew Pan would probably enjoy such a thing. Felix would never betray Pan, but Wendy – well. He could keep some secrets for Wendy.

Wendy sniffed. She knew that Felix was loyal to Pan above all, but he was also the closest thing she had to a friend on this island. He didn’t play games with her, unlike Pan. Even if he was just following orders, he was honest. Easy to understand. She knew where she stood with him, knew how he would react from one day to the next. There were even times she thought he might be her friend even beyond Pan’s orders to look after her, when he showed her crystal caverns and mermaids splashing, beautiful things to offset the pain of her continued imprisonment on Pan’s tortuous island of nightmares.

“I’m going to die on this island, Felix,” She confessed. She pretended to be brushing a curl back in place as she swiped at a tear. “I’m going to die here and be forgotten, forever. And my brothers – ” Her eyes filled up again. “Oh I _am_ sorry. Please excuse me.” She turned away, intent on retreating back to her corner. Friend or no, some things just weren’t _proper._ Sobbing in front of unrelated boys was one of them.

Felix had other ideas. “My memory’s pretty long,” he drawled. Wendy paused. “Can’t say I forget much.” She breathed a sigh of relief as she heard footsteps away, thinking Felix was leaving her in peace. Just a few more and she’d be left to sob in peace. “Coming out, Miss Darling? Got something today I think you’ll like.” Wendy drew a deep and shuddery breath.

_Be brave, Wendy._ Felix at least wouldn’t hurt her, unless Pan ordered him too. She’d be fine, wouldn’t she? And if she stayed in the cage, what would that say about her? So, drawing a deep and shuddery breath, she crept out of the cage. Felix began walking again, the ghost of a smile on his face.

Wendy picked her way carefully through the jungle behind Felix, dodging webs and vines with all the grace of the laky she ought to have grown up to be by now. Her confusion rose at Felix stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and more when he knelt to tug on a root on the jungle floor.

The root proved to be a handle, lifting a section of the jungle floor away to reveal a dark pit. Felix dropped down, only the top of his head peaking out. “Come on over to the edge,” he directed. Wordlessly, Wendy assented. She sat carefully at the edge, smoothing her ragged nightgown beneath her to preserve modesty even over her legs. Next thing she knew, strong arms were lifting her by the waist and setting her down into the dark.

Then, a spark. A torch flamed into light in Felix’s hands, casting warm light over his jagged features. Wendy could just make out the edges of barrels stacked against earthen walls. It appeared they were in some kind of storage pit.

Compared to the mermaids, the meadows, the sunsets and crystal caverns he’d shown her before, Wendy couldn’t say that she understood his choice of field trip today. Still, she was too polite to say anything negative. “It’s lovely, Felix.” Felix snorted. Her devout commitment to propriety was impressive, especially considering all that Pan had done to her.

“Not the sight we came here for.” Felix drew the torch over to a stone in the earthen wall. Its surface was fairly flat, almost like a plaque. Felix drew a knife from his belt and began scratching the surface. Wendy watched with quiet confusion, regretting somewhat that she had followed Felix into this strange dark place instead of staying behind to cry in peace.

“There you are, Miss Darling.” Felix beckoned her attention to the stone. Carved in careful lettering were her initials, all of them – WMAD. “Now you’re on Neverland forever. Just like the rest of us.” Wendy’s heart – and eyes – welled up with gratitude for Pan’s laconic second in command. Not wanting to show such inappropriate emotion, she set her shoulders back and broke out her most imperious tone.

“Now do yours,” she commanded. Felix chuckled.

“I don’t need to write my name out on this island.” He was the first and oldest of Pan’s Lost Boys. Of all of them, he was the only one who could talk back to Pan, reason with him, offer alternate plans and ideas. Unlike Wendy, Felix wasn’t disposable. Felix wasn’t going anywhere.

He didn’t resist when Wendy took the knife from him, closing her small warm hands over his rough ones. “Then I’ll do it.” Treating the knife as delicately as glass, she scratched an F beneath her initials with determination. “Initials, please,” she ordered. Just ‘F’ looked small and sad beneath her own. And besides, she and Felix had known each other long enough now that she really ought to know his fukl name. He knew hers after all, it was only right.

Felix laughed at her command. “We can’t all have names a mile long,” he teased. “Told you before, Miss Darling – it’s just Felix.” Despite what he had said, he was oddly pleased to see the ‘F’ carved beneath Wendy Moira Angela Darling’s initials. Pan owned everything on the island, and Wendy was no exception. Even if he didn’t Felix knew well everyone fell to Pan’s charms whether they wanted to or not – and Wendy was no exception. But here, in this dark and secret place below the wild Neverland jungle, he would be placed with Wendy into antiquity.

In a place that Pan would never reach.

“Thank you, Felix.” The imperious air was gone, and the scared, uncertain girl returned. “Do we have to go back to the cages just yet?” A jagged smile cut over Felix’s face in the firelight.

“Neverland days are pretty long, lady-bird.” The torch dropped to the ground, and Wendy felt herself lifted back onto the edge of the jungle floor. The torch extinguished, and soon Felix pushed himself out of the storage pit to join her.

“Plenty of time to see anything you want.”


End file.
